William Herschel discovered NGC 5893 = H II-678 = h1913 on 9 Apr 1787 (sweep 725) and recorded "F, S, r. In a row with 3 stars. His position is 5' too far south-southeast. JH made the single observation "F; R; gbM; 30"." and measured an accurate position.

400/500mm - 17.5" (7/12/99): faint, fairly small, round, ~1.0' diameter. Weak even concentration to the center but no core or nucleus. Situated within a string of mag 13-13.5 stars oriented NW-SE. The very faint pair NGC 5895/96 lies 4' NE.

17.5" (5/2/92): faint, small, slightly elongated 4:3 SW-NE, even surface brightness. In a line with a string of four mag 13 stars oriented NW-SE; the closest stars are 1.9' NW and 1.8' SE. In a trio with NGC 5895 4.2' NE and NGC 5896 5.0' NE.

600/800mm - 24" (6/21/20): at 375x; fairly faint, fairly small, slightly elongated SW-NE, ~45"x35", very weak conentration. A mag 13 star is 2' NW and a mag 13.9 star is 2' ESE. NGC 5895 [same redshift] lies 4' NE and NGC 5899 is 17' ENE.

Notes by Steve Gottlieb